I just competed my new hood using 4 18 inch 15 watt tubes, for a total of
60 watts over 20 gallons. I will reuse the Pen Plax ultra from my old
hood. I also have two Phillips Plant and Aquarium bulbs, which I bought
from Home Depot with the rest of the supplies for the project. I don't
really care for the pinkish light produced by the Plant and Aquarium bulbs
so I may replace them with some thing else. So I need to buy 1 to 3 new
tubes for a moderately planted tank.

To spare the poor fish from a sudden blast of light in the morning the bulbs
are wired as two pair each with there own timer. One pair will turn on
about 2 hours before the other pair. One pair will also turn off 2 hours
before the other. Sort of a dawn to noon to dusk effect.

What type of tubes would be recommend for this? If it's a mixture of bulbs
which should turn on first and off last.

BTW I do not inject CO2. That may be the next project. I do use flourish,
flourish trace and flourish iron.

Thanks
Scott

"Scott Rogahn" wrote in message
...

BTW I do not inject CO2. That may be the next project. I do use
flourish,
flourish trace and flourish iron.

I strongly recommend that you don't run 60 Watts over 20 gallons without
CO2. Otherwise, you're in for a huge algae outbreak. Until you get CO2, use
only 2 of the bulbs on your tank. Most plants will survive under that
lighting. But their growth will not improve by much with 60 W over 30 W
without CO2. You'll also want to look into finding some sources of
macronutrients like KNO3, K2SO4, KH2PO4, etc., because your plants will most
likely require them once you increase the lighting and add CO2.
__
Alex
pcalex (at) hotpop.com

"Scott Rogahn" wrote in message
...

BTW I do not inject CO2. That may be the next project. I do use
flourish,
flourish trace and flourish iron.

I strongly recommend that you don't run 60 Watts over 20 gallons without
CO2. Otherwise, you're in for a huge algae outbreak. Until you get CO2, use
only 2 of the bulbs on your tank. Most plants will survive under that
lighting. But their growth will not improve by much with 60 W over 30 W
without CO2. You'll also want to look into finding some sources of
macronutrients like KNO3, K2SO4, KH2PO4, etc., because your plants will most
likely require them once you increase the lighting and add CO2.
__
Alex
pcalex (at) hotpop.com

Just wondering did you use two ballast for the 4 tubes with each ballast
supposting 2 tubes. I am thinking of doing a hood with only two tubes of
15watt for my 20 gallon (30 watts total). I have low light plants mostly
except for amazon sword. What electonics did you use?




"Alex R" wrote in message
news:UXz3a.116987$iG3.14610@sccrnsc02...
"Scott Rogahn" wrote in message
...

BTW I do not inject CO2. That may be the next project. I do use
flourish,
flourish trace and flourish iron.

I strongly recommend that you don't run 60 Watts over 20 gallons without
CO2. Otherwise, you're in for a huge algae outbreak. Until you get CO2,
use
only 2 of the bulbs on your tank. Most plants will survive under that
lighting. But their growth will not improve by much with 60 W over 30 W
without CO2. You'll also want to look into finding some sources of
macronutrients like KNO3, K2SO4, KH2PO4, etc., because your plants will
most
likely require them once you increase the lighting and add CO2.
__
Alex
pcalex (at) hotpop.com

Just wondering did you use two ballast for the 4 tubes with each ballast
supposting 2 tubes. I am thinking of doing a hood with only two tubes of
15watt for my 20 gallon (30 watts total). I have low light plants mostly
except for amazon sword. What electonics did you use?




"Alex R" wrote in message
news:UXz3a.116987$iG3.14610@sccrnsc02...
"Scott Rogahn" wrote in message
...

BTW I do not inject CO2. That may be the next project. I do use
flourish,
flourish trace and flourish iron.

I strongly recommend that you don't run 60 Watts over 20 gallons without
CO2. Otherwise, you're in for a huge algae outbreak. Until you get CO2,
use
only 2 of the bulbs on your tank. Most plants will survive under that
lighting. But their growth will not improve by much with 60 W over 30 W
without CO2. You'll also want to look into finding some sources of
macronutrients like KNO3, K2SO4, KH2PO4, etc., because your plants will
most
likely require them once you increase the lighting and add CO2.
__
Alex
pcalex (at) hotpop.com

I took your advice and ordered the Hagen natural CO2 system.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...=6&pCatId=8981


"Alex R" wrote in message
news:UXz3a.116987$iG3.14610@sccrnsc02...
"Scott Rogahn" wrote in message
...

BTW I do not inject CO2. That may be the next project. I do use
flourish,
flourish trace and flourish iron.

I strongly recommend that you don't run 60 Watts over 20 gallons without
CO2. Otherwise, you're in for a huge algae outbreak. Until you get CO2,
use
only 2 of the bulbs on your tank. Most plants will survive under that
lighting. But their growth will not improve by much with 60 W over 30 W
without CO2. You'll also want to look into finding some sources of
macronutrients like KNO3, K2SO4, KH2PO4, etc., because your plants will
most
likely require them once you increase the lighting and add CO2.
__
Alex
pcalex (at) hotpop.com

I took your advice and ordered the Hagen natural CO2 system.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...=6&pCatId=8981


"Alex R" wrote in message
news:UXz3a.116987$iG3.14610@sccrnsc02...
"Scott Rogahn" wrote in message
...

BTW I do not inject CO2. That may be the next project. I do use
flourish,
flourish trace and flourish iron.

I strongly recommend that you don't run 60 Watts over 20 gallons without
CO2. Otherwise, you're in for a huge algae outbreak. Until you get CO2,
use
only 2 of the bulbs on your tank. Most plants will survive under that
lighting. But their growth will not improve by much with 60 W over 30 W
without CO2. You'll also want to look into finding some sources of
macronutrients like KNO3, K2SO4, KH2PO4, etc., because your plants will
most
likely require them once you increase the lighting and add CO2.
__
Alex
pcalex (at) hotpop.com

Scott Rogahn wrote:

To spare the poor fish from a sudden blast of light in the morning the bulbs
are wired as two pair each with there own timer. One pair will turn on
about 2 hours before the other pair. One pair will also turn off 2 hours
before the other. Sort of a dawn to noon to dusk effect.

This is nice, except 2 hours is not necessary. I've got two timers, each set to
run the lights for 12 hours, circuit A comes on and goes off just 15 minutes
before circuit B.

15 minutes is plenty to avoid shocking the fish, and it makes it much easier to
track bulb life. Remember that flourescent bulb output drops significantly after
6 months! Compare a new and old bulb if you doubt this.

Scott Rogahn wrote:

To spare the poor fish from a sudden blast of light in the morning the bulbs
are wired as two pair each with there own timer. One pair will turn on
about 2 hours before the other pair. One pair will also turn off 2 hours
before the other. Sort of a dawn to noon to dusk effect.

This is nice, except 2 hours is not necessary. I've got two timers, each set to
run the lights for 12 hours, circuit A comes on and goes off just 15 minutes
before circuit B.

15 minutes is plenty to avoid shocking the fish, and it makes it much easier to
track bulb life. Remember that flourescent bulb output drops significantly after
6 months! Compare a new and old bulb if you doubt this.